The Monkey and the Black Cat
by KidTantei
Summary: In which Ayame is assigned to train a moody little 10-year old who is named something lame like "Black Cat." Seriously? / Storytelling in 200 words. Complete.
1. I

Word says this is 200 words but FFN says it's 199! I hate it when they do that!

Super sorry for the title. It was the best I could come up with after like two hours of mental blank. OTL If you read this, please drop a review because I'm curious how many people will actually read a crossover between Gakuen Alice and Gintama. :)

I don't own either Gintama or Gakuen Alice. You all know I'm neither a gorilla nor a pig... right?

* * *

Sometimes, Ayame thinks, being a top kunoichi in the Shimatsuya that she works for is a pain in the ass. She normally likes pains in the ass, but only if they were physical and, preferably, inflicted on her by Gin-san.

_This _pain just makes her want to rip her hair out.

The fear her reputation instils in others and the thrills of each mission _are_ quite addicting. However, she has better things to do than so many missions. Like stalk Gin-san, for example.

Ayame ignores the messenger sent by the higher-ups to brief her on the mission, choosing to observe the moonless sky instead. She tried to listen at first, but the messenger droned on monotonously. It didn't help that she hasn't slept in a day, due to her stalking habits.

Her mind wanders, and Ayame thinks about what Gin-san could be doing late at night while she's listening to someone as boring as grass going through puberty. She's thinking about how good Gin-san is in bed when the messenger crashes into her thoughts.

"—meet the young man you will be working with at midnight tomorrow."

She's never felt so offended.

Sarutobi Ayame worked solo, thank you very much.


	2. II

The two animes will cross over soon. I swear.

I don't own Gakuen Alice or Gintama, _geezus cripes_.

* * *

She's quickly up on her feet.

"I will never work for any man, unless his hair is silver and his name is Gintoki!" Ayame yells. "Then we'll talk!"

The messenger steps back, obviously confused and a little scared for his life. He quickly regains composure, like a true ninja, and Ayame thinks that deserves some praise.

"I'm not sure if you were listening for the past half-hour at all, Sarutobi-san." The messenger waves a scroll in her face. "Your mission is to train a young man with the alias 'Black Cat', and you will work _with_ him on future missions until he is well-trained."

Ayame stares blankly at him. "The Oniwabanshu exists to train ninjas," she says. "What are _they_ doing? Drowning each other in the ocean?"

"Unfortunately, yes." The messenger doesn't skip a beat. "The old couple actually recommended your skills for this mission."

_Oh. _Ayame doesn't know if she should gloat or feel embarrassed.

"I knew they would, of course, but a girl can't resist flattery!" She somehow manages a mix of both by laughing, full of pride, while a blush graces her cheeks.

"Right." The messenger coughs. "You'll meet the trainee here at midnight tomorrow. That's all."


	3. III

... I swear the animes will crossover in the next chapter I SWEAR. I swear I don't own either of them, too.

Just a friendly reminder: 'Saru' means monkey. 8)

* * *

Ayame leaves for her mission at 11:55. She hates being separated from Gin-san for too long, but she can't deny that it feels good to finally get some fresh air. The wind rushing past her face as she jumps from building to building greets her like an old friend, and she feels like she's lived up to her name and become a true monkey.

She stops at the rooftop of an abandoned warehouse, where she can observe the meeting point without being seen. It's better to know the opponent before meeting them, and Ayame likes to think information gathering is her forte.

She watches the people on the streets below, mostly drunken men waddling past. It's the usual Edo scene. The occasional Amanto comes by, and Ayame wonders if they do what humans do at night.

It's not long before a black limousine stops at the warehouse. Ayame starts to think the warehouse is used for smuggling, maybe both drugs and people, when a door of the limo opens and out comes a familiar figure.

The man's mop of sandy hair covers half his face, and Ayame wonders when Hattori Zenzou could have had time to join the smuggling ring.


	4. IV

I don't own anything. I'm so rusty at 200-word storytelling gdi

* * *

Without a sound, Ayame jumps off the rooftop and lands on a window ledge near the ground. _Second floor_, she remarks. She watches the former member of the Shinobi 5, the five strongest ninjas, speaking to another person in the limousine in a hushed voice.

"Oi, hemorrhoids!" she hisses.

Hattori Zenzou looks up, and Ayame wants to laugh hysterically. _Really, who responds to _hemorrhoids_?_

"Oh, didn't notice you there, Sarutobi." Ayame narrows her eyes. Hattori was best in class at finding presences. She knows he _knew _she was there, and he's making fun of her.

The man turns back to the limousine and says, "Come on out, kid."

A boy who can't possibly be older than ten comes out of the car, wearing a white collared shirt and red plaid shorts and _is that a ribbon under his collar_? The boy is also wearing a black cat mask, and Ayame feels like she should have known. Besides the mask, nothing about the boy's appearance proves to be ideal for the ways of the ninja. She wants to ask the boy if he really wants to be a ninja, because _it's not easy_.

Instead, she blurts out, "_You're _the Black Cat?"


	5. V

I don't own either Gakuen Alice or Gintama, yes?

* * *

The boy seems to glare at her from behind his mask.

"That's a stupid question, Sarutobi." Ayame's not sure if it's Zenzou or his hemorrhoids speaking. It's probably the latter. "Can't you see the mask? Are you wearing your glasses? Of course he's Black Cat."

She ignores the ninja and looks at the boy again. "But you're just a kid!"

If she didn't feel the killer aura exuding from the boy, Ayame would have been ashamed of herself. The ominous aura is so obvious it's almost opaque. It's something that can only come from a sadist and _her masochistic senses are tingling_—

"And the Oniwabanshu is an elderly couple who try to kill each other everyday," Zenzou's hemorrhoids retort. "I don't see your point."

"And I don't see why the kid can't speak for himself," Ayame glares at the ninja, attempting to make her glasses glint evilly like in anime, but failing terribly.

"He can't-"

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here," Black Cat finally speaks, and Ayame is surprised because his voice is deeper and more mature than she expected.

"I'm the one you call Black Cat, and I'd love to be anywhere but here right now."


	6. VI

Whatever you may read in the chapter below, remember this: stalking IS bad. If someone is stalking you, call the cops.

/crying because I don't own manga

* * *

Before anyone can blink, Ayame presses a kunai against Black Cat's throat. He flinches. Her face is so close to the child's mask that if it wasn't so dark, Ayame would be able to see his eyes.

"Listen, kid," she smiles grimly, "I'd love to be anywhere but here right now, too; but guess who called me out this fine midnight? You did."

Zenzou makes no attempt to stop her, and neither does his hemorrhoids. Ayame feels satisfied with herself.

"If you want to leave, go. Then I can leave too," she feels her face flush. "And I can go back to Gin-san and watch him sleep and-"

"Oi, don't scar people with stories of your nightly activities," Zenzou mutters.

With a huff, Ayame returns her kunai to her side and stands up straight. People just don't understand; stalking isn't that bad. Besides, no one looks scarred. Black Cat is panting and backing away, but that's because Ayame threatened his life.

…Right?

"So, little boy, do you want to leave?"

Black Cat hesitates, his fingers twitching, clenching, making rhythms against his plaid shorts. He finally replies with a short "no," and Ayame huffs.

"Alright then, mission time. Stay close."


	7. VII

I forgot to mention, but the whole 200-word storytelling idea is originally by Uncoloured186. So, really, I own nothing.

* * *

The boy keeps up rather well. _As he should_, Ayame thinks. They were only running, after all; if he couldn't keep up, he didn't deserve the title of Black Cat.

Satisfied, Ayame leaves him alone, to talk to the ninja with hemorrhoids who had been trailing them.

"Why are you tagging along?" she hisses. "I was told _I _was training him, not anyone else."

"Don't tell me you were planning to do something dirty with a _kid_?" Zenzou smirks. Before Ayame can say that she will do dirty things with Gin-san only, Zenzou continues, "I heard it's important that nothing happens to him before he's fully trained, so they sent me for extra security."

"The kid's one of those rich bastards, then?" She scoffs. "Do they no longer trust me?"

The ninja shrugs. "When you lose your glasses, trust is out of the question."

Ayame promptly punches the man in the guts. However, as soon as he groans, fire stops them both in their tracks, acting as a wall between them and the trainee running ahead.

By the time she jumps onto a house nearby and leaps past the fire, the boy nicknamed Black Cat is nowhere to be seen.


	8. VIII

i was re-reading the arc where sacchan loses her glasses and... yikes, got lots of stuff wrong in my previous chapters. too lazy to change stuff though, please forgive. ;u;

(gotta use no caps in author's notes. all due to the house cup. #AoGAHC13)

* * *

The fire dissipates as quickly as it ignited, and Ayame wonders if it was caused by an Amanto. The completely barren street surprises her. Everyone is too drunk to have noticed the fire, she realizes.

"You're useless!" Ayame yells at Zenzou. "What were you protecting, Mr. Extra Security? Your Jump?"

"Don't drag Shounen Jump into this, Sarutobi." He's beside her in a second. "You take the side-streets, I'll take the main ones."

"People with hemorrhoids have no right to order others around," Ayame scoffs, but starts searching Edo's side-streets anyway.

Black Cat can't have gotten far. If he did, Ayame's sure she'll catch up in no time. Building-hopping is a faster mode of transport than simply running, and Ayame likes to think she knows more about Edo's streets and hiding places than anyone else. It came with training, practice, and long hours of stalking.

Her search takes longer than expected. Ayame hadn't thought to search inside open bars or ramen shops, so she backtracks a few times. Finally, she spots plaid fabric deep in an alley's corners.

As she stands on a building's rooftop above him, she cries out, "You cannot leave once you enter the work of an assassin!"


	9. IX

Black Cat gets up from his cannonball position and starts running before Ayame can blink. She rethinks her opinions; the boy had potential, if he really wanted to become a ninja - he had the speed and _guts_.

She quickly chases after the plaid shorts that seem to glow in the moonlight. When Ayame looks again, they _are_ glowing; there is fire right beside the boy's shorts, somehow running alongside him.

Not long after Ayame notices this, a fireball shoots towards her head. She quickly ducks, but the fireball manages to char the tips of her hair. Before Ayame can regain proper balance, a fireball shoots towards her feet - and she hops over it, performing a little somersault in the air. She's persistent to catch up to the Black Cat before she loses track of him.

The fireballs keep coming, and Ayame realizes they come from the same direction: Black Cat's palm.

She briefly wonders if Black Cat is really an Amanto, and if it was he who caused the firewall. What if he's really hiding his face behind a mask because he's one of the last of a dying Amanto race, and showing his face guarantees immediate death?


	10. X

Ten chapters in and still nowhere near the main plotline. Ugh, need to change that soon. Please bear with me. ;u;

* * *

It doesn't mean she'll show mercy, though. She's much closer to Black Cat now and, after dodging another ball of fire, dives off the rooftop towards the boy. When he turns around to aim again, Ayame throws the kunai between her fingers, targeting the area around Black Cat. As she expected, the boy stops in his tracks and stumbles, before Ayame tackles him to the ground.

"You have guts to run away," she tells him honestly while he struggles. Ayame never thought her role would be reversed, that she would be the S instead of the M, but she really didn't want to think anything sexual about a _child_.

"What's your name, Black Cat? Your real name," Ayame asks. Black Cat freezes for a moment, but immediately starts struggling again.

"You don't need to know," he wheezes.

"You do know I can kill you if you don't tell me, right?" she mutters, hoping her voice is menacing enough to get through to the boy's head. It turns out to be, when the boy stops struggling and whispers, 'Natsume Hyuuga.'

"Alright, Hyuuga, what made you run?" she asks.

There is a pause before he replies, "I don't want to be here."


	11. XI

"We'd both rather be someplace else right now, but we're stuck here, aren't we?" Ayame sighs. "Stuck here until we finish the mission."

Natsume has finally calmed down - _accepted his fate_, Ayame corrects herself - and she removes her knee from his back. He sits up and moves away from Ayame.

The mask somehow managed to stay on during his struggle.

"So Hyuuga, you want to go home and cry to your mommy that a ninja almost killed you tonight?" Ayame's smug smile withers when Natsume clenches his fist and stays silent. Maybe she hit a sore spot, but he'll need to learn to suck it up; enemies take advantage of taboos like that. "Well, shall we get this mission over with?"

The boy nods slowly, and starts to get up from the dirty sidewalk. Ayame looks across the road and finds the Yorozuya sign gleaming high and proud. She managed to come home without even realizing.

She thinks about leaving the mission until tomorrow so she can go back to staring endlessly at Gin-san. However, when Natsume asks if they should do the mission without the other ninja, Ayame picks herself up and starts running without a word.


	12. XII

"Why are we running?" Natsume asks, breathless.

"So hemorrhoids won't lecture us for not finishing the mission," Ayame says simply. She can feel the bemused look that the boy is giving her, but they stay silent until they finally reach their destination: a 24-hour convenience store.

"Here," Ayame grabs Natsume's hand and drops a few coins into his palm. "Get the latest Jump and pay the cashier without anyone seeing. Easy enough."

"What?" the boy hisses, but the mask slightly muffles his voice. "_This_ is the mission?"

"It's your first one," Ayame waves him off. "Now go. Do whatever to buy that Jump without being seen."

Natsume looks down at his palm and, clenching his fist, walks confidently towards the store entrance. Right before he enters, the cashier's nail file catches fire, and the lazy woman drops it in surprise. While she hesitates to pick it up, Natsume grabs the Jump magazine, pays for it and walks out, like nothing happened.

He hands Ayame the magazine before pointing behind her.

"The other ninja's here. Can I go now?"

Ayame nods, hides the magazine and stalks off before Zenzou can see it.

She won't let Gin-san's Jump be taken by anyone.


	13. XIII

If this doesn't clear things up from the previous chapter, send me a message. (:

* * *

Ayame's mood became positive when Gin-san read the Jump she left on his desk in the morning, and even said thanks. It got better in the evening when she found out Natsume Hyuuga had a knack for scaling walls and climbing trees, and she didn't have to teach him anything.

"I had to do a lot of escaping... back then. Or I would get captured," the boy explains as he grabs another firm branch. His tone is one that can only come from someone who is reliving terrible memories, one that begs not to be questioned, and one that Ayame has heard many times before. She wonders what Natsume means when he says he would get captured. Maybe he _is_ from a special breed of Amanto, but Ayame knows not to ask.

"Come back down here, then," she calls, feigning an irritated tone. "Don't be a show-off."

Natsume hops from one of the higher branches and manages to land on his feet. He leans against the tree's trunk, and Ayame can hear him mumble behind his mask.

"Since I can't teach you anything tonight, you teach me something." She crosses her arms. "How do you make fire from your palm?"


	14. XIV

I just realized that their time periods are different. hahaha! Oh well. :))

* * *

Natsume doesn't respond for a while, and Ayame realizes she hit another of the child's sore spots. She decides that there's no better time to teach him about taboos than now.

"If there's something you can't talk about, either tell someone before you become a ninja assassin, or you carry it with you to your grave." Ayame unconsciously starts tapping her feet. "If you do neither, and the secrets stop you like they're stopping you now, you'll die early."

Natsume still doesn't talk. About a minute passes before he mutters a single word: Alice.

"What? Are you mistaking me for your girlfriend now?" Ayame smirks. "Sorry, I'm taken-"

"No," the boy growls, even though he shouldn't. He's wearing a black _cat_ mask, not a dog, and Ayame is disappointed that he didn't stay in-character. "My power, making my own fire, it's called an Alice."

Maybe it's just Ayame who thinks it, but calling a supernatural power 'Alice' is... _lame_.

"There's a special school for Alices," Natsume says. "You're training me so I can do their dirty work."

Ayame stays silent. She knows all about dirty work, and the risks of spilling its secrets.

Does this mean Natsume _trusts _her?


	15. XV

Oh, no. No, no, _no_. If Gin-san trusted her this easily, they would be happily married with three children and no Glasses constantly harping at their backs. Ayame doesn't want this trust from this kid at all.

"That's not some top secret, is it?" she asks. The boy shrugs, and Ayame feels her vein throb. "What are you shrugging for? Are you trying to act cool? You have no right act cool when they kill me because you told me a top secret!"

"You're a ninja assassin," Natsume says simply. "You probably kill 9 out of 10 people who try to kill you."

"I'm glad you know how good I am, but if they have an Alice, or whatever you call those powers, they're going to be that one person I don't kill!"

"They won't know—"

"First thing you need to know, kid," she steps forward and presses a finger on the boy's sternum. "The ninja assassins' higher-ups have eyes and ears everywhere. If you spill their secrets like you just did, you're _dead_."

When she steps back, she spots a black limousine in the distance.

The only thing running through Ayame's mind is that her demise is coming.


	16. XVI

Her first instinct is to save herself. Ayame quickly leaps for the lowest branch of the tree that Natsume is leaning on, and skilfully pulls herself up.

"What are you doing?" the boy asks. Ayame doesn't stop climbing branches.

"Your friends in the limousine are here," she hisses. "This is a conspiracy! The higher-ups are testing me, I—what are _you_ doing?"

"Climbing," Black Cat says simply. He's climbing the branches on the other side, and has already caught up to her. Ayame doesn't like being beaten - no one does - especially because _she's_ the monkey between the two of them. The monkey is supposed to be a better climber than the cat, damn it!

"Are you following me? Is it because you want to kill me?" Her voice is hysterical, she notes, but monkeys always sound hysterical and don't give a damn anyway. "You tell me your organization's secrets just to kill me, is that it?"

"No, I'm running from the academy," Natsume mutters. Ayame stops climbing and rests on a branch that's hidden from the limousine's view.

"You're from the academy, but you're running from them?" she asks.

Natsume doesn't reply; instead, he starts a forest fire.


	17. XVII

"What are you _doing_?" she yells. The fire surrounds them on all sides, and Ayame can feel the temperature quickly rising.

"Self-preservation," Natsume replies monotonously.

"_What_?" Ayame's eyebrows furrow. "The fire is more of a threat than your-"

She's cut off by a deep voice from outside the ring of fire calling for Black Cat, and Natsume freezes on his perch. For some reason, Ayame can feel death in the air - can smell it, can _see_ it beyond the fire.

There's a man wearing all black, except for his white mask, and a dark aura surrounds him; but Ayame might be imagining it.

"Black Cat." The man's tone is authoritative. "Put out the fire."

"Persona," Natsume says under his breath. Ayame looks around, and the fire seems to be spreading. 'Persona' is probably the man's name, but it could always be some kind of spell.

"Black Cat," the man repeats, but he sounds amused. "I wonder, what will happen to your sister if you don't return to the academy?"

The boy flinches. Ayame realizes it's _yet another_ sore spot of the child's, which the enemy is already blackmailing him with.

Somehow, knowing this doesn't sit well with her.


	18. XVIII

'Persona' reminds Ayame of someone, but she can't quite place a finger on it.

"Who are you?" she shouts, although she's sure the man can clearly hear even whispers. When he looks at her, Ayame realizes with a jolt that he looks like Kintoki.

Persona looks like proud, confident, _evil_ Kintoki.

"It is none of your concern." Persona's voice is cold and amused. "I am merely here to bring the Black Cat back to the academy."

"I'm still _teaching_ him-"

"Maybe next lesson, you could stick to the assigned times," the man cuts her off. If there's something Ayame hates more than anything in the world, it's being belittled; and Persona's grin is more condescending than any other grin she's ever seen.

Before Ayame can explode with anger, Natsume hops off the tree and extinguishes the fires without a word.

"Oi, what are you doing?" she yells. The boy doesn't reply, only walks towards Persona.

Persona drops a memento before they leave. When Ayame looks closer, she sees a rose, charred and blackened. She's not sure if it's black because of the fire, but she thinks even seeing Gin-san's face won't be able to make the goosebumps go away.


	19. XIX

Natsume gets dropped off by the limousine at the meeting point the next evening. Ayame can swear Persona is in the black limousine, but it's too dark to see clearly; and he camouflages quite well, anyhow.

When the boy finally gets to the rooftop, Ayame showers him with a myriad of questions, like "What was that last night?", "You have a sister?", and "Why are you stupid enough to be bullied into dirty work like that?"

All of her questions go unanswered, of course, as she expected.

"Alright, have it your way," she huffs. "Tonight, you'll learn to hop buildings."

Natsume's head snaps towards her. Ayame can't stop the smug grin from gracing her face.

"You'll jump from this building to the one beside it first. Easy."

"You've never taught me that," he grumbles. "And I've never seen _you_ do it before!"

"Don't tell me you need to be taught how to leap?" Natsume doesn't speak, so she continues, "That's all it is. Find some way to save your skin if you fall."

"If I can't? If I die?" he snarls.

"Please don't," she huffs. "If you die, the man with hemorrhoids will have a fit. It won't be pretty."


	20. XX

20 chapters already? What am I doing with my life?! OTL

* * *

Black Cat mumbles something about 'caring' and 'life', but his mask makes his speech unintelligible.

"Alright, kid, here's a demonstration," Ayame sighs before turning to her right. Without another word, she runs, pushing off the ledge and landing on her feet on the opposite building.

_It's too short_, she thinks. _There's no excitement, or exhilaration, or even _pressure_._

Ayame turns around to see Natsume rooted to his spot.

"Come on, Black Cat," she calls impatiently. "One _short _building-hop. You have nine lives. We don't have all night."

The boy still doesn't move. Ayame is briefly reminded of her child self, training under the Hattoris in the Oniwabanshu. She, too, was afraid to make the first leap; and she remembers _very_ clearly how she was forced to jump.

"What do you think will happen if you don't cooperate?" she feigns a sigh. If she has to use Natsume's sore spots against him, so be it. "Imagine what will happen to your sister if you don't jump!"

The result is immediate. Natsume clenches his fist and runs up and off the ledge. Using fire from his palms as boost, he successfully lands beside Ayame, on his feet like a true Black Cat.


	21. XXI

He doesn't stop there, however. Natsume pulls on her scarf with one hand and manages to bring her down to his level, while the other hand holds a fireball near her cheek.

"You can't threaten me with Aoi," he growls. Ayame is too surprised to respond. After a while, she grabs the fingers holding her scarf and loosens them, and pushes away the hand with the fireball.

"But 'Aoi' made you jump," she replies as calmly as she can, rearranging her scarf to regain some of her dignity. "It's obvious your sister is your driving force."

It's a while before Natsume extinguishes his fire, and he starts to slouch.

"Speaking of your sister," Ayame says after a pause. "She's obviously a hostage, but where?"

"Not like you'll help me if I tell you," the boy says, seething with discontent.

"Maybe I will," she snaps. "Maybe if I can, if I think it'll help to train you."

Natsume stays silent and clenches his fists again. Ayame is momentarily distracted by the waxing moon; the almost-crescent is silver like Gin-san's hair, she thinks.

She almost blushes – it's an instant reaction to thoughts of Gin-san – but she stops herself when Natsume stops fidgeting.


	22. XXII

"She's in the academy," Natsume finally says. "But you'll never be able to enter in the first place."

Ayame raises an eyebrow. She isn't sure if the child is mocking her abilities or simply being factual, but he doesn't explain, so Ayame leaves it at that.

They spend the rest of the lesson building-hopping, and Natsume makes it to the other side each time with the aid of his Alice. Ayame still doesn't grasp the concept of Alices, but whatever they are or wherever they come from, the boy's Alice is a handy weapon.

Before the sun rises, Persona comes out of the limousine parked on the street – _why haven't they been charged yet for parking for too long? _– and watches them make three last leaps of faith. Ayame makes sure to end the lesson late, just to get on his nerves; but if the man felt anything negative, he didn't show it.

She stays on the rooftop until sunrise. People commonly see sunsets as more romantic, but it's the reverse for her. Sunrise means a new day, and new hope, and it's much more pleasant to think about than the dusk.

Sunrise also means a new day of stalking.


	23. XXIII

With the crescent moon hiding behind clouds, Ayame watches her target from the shadows, waiting for the right time to strike. Her target is a Jouishishi, whose name she doesn't quite remember. What's the point of remembering the name of someone you'll kill, anyway?

All she knows is that the target is an official, or one of the higher-ups of the Jouishishi. She isn't sure why she is handling this; the Jouishishi is usually dealt with by the Shinsengumi. Ayame's speculation is that the Bakufu has had enough of the members of the Shinsengumi stalking people that don't need to be stalked, eating too much mayo, or simply lazing around in general.

She decides it's for the best. After all, the less work those gorillas get, the more free time they'll spend hanging out with Gin-san, and the more time they'll spend _keeping her rivals away_.

Ayame keeps watching her target make his way through the crowd. The Jouishishi is having some kind of loud, celebratory party, and their security is horribly low. She would have let Black Cat tag along, but when she waited earlier on the rooftop, a girl with icy blue hair came in his place instead.


	24. XXIV

"B-Black Cat won't b-be here tonight," the girl had stuttered. Her voice had been barely above a whisper, and Ayame remembers wondering if she was cold. The child certainly looked it, with the way she had been holding her arm close to her body like it was about to fall off.

"H-He—He's ill," the girl continued.

"What?" Ayame's sure she furrowed her eyebrows so much it became a unibrow. The boy had been perfectly healthy the day before, and capable of jumping from _buildings_. She still doesn't understand how people's health can fluctuate so much.

"Um…" There was silence, until the girl finally bowed from her waist and fled.

Ayame returns her attention to the Jouishishi crowd, and spots her target near the table of food. He's drinking sake and is tipsy, but surprisingly alone, and Ayame doesn't know any better opportunity. As she grabs her kunai, she feels slightly disappointed that the Black Cat isn't able to watch her skills in fast assassinations; but the mission is too easy, anyway.

_Like a set-up_, a voice tells her, but she releases her kunai with the usual speed and accuracy.

She escapes before anyone can realize her target is dead.


	25. XXV

...Now that I've written 25 chapters, I just feel too lazy to write Author's Notes. OTL

* * *

Much to Ayame's surprise, Natsume looks ready for a mission on the rooftop before she even arrives. When he sees her, he seems to perk up.

"What are we—" he begins to ask, but Ayame silences him with a hand.

"Sit down. I need to ask you things," she says as she sits on the ledge. The child is indignant at first, but it only takes a look from Ayame to make him crouch on the rooftop floor.

"Firstly," she pauses. Ayame has too many questions in her mind, and it takes a while to rearrange them. Finally she asks, "Why don't you take off your mask?"

"I can't," Natsume swiftly replies, eager to finish the interrogation. "It gives me an electric shock when I try."

Ayame doesn't know what to think about that, but she _is_ taken aback by the kid's calmness. Most kids would normally stutter or shake in fear when talking about torturous devices like the mask, like the girl from last night. This brings her to her next question.

"Who was the girl who came last night?"

"Someone came?" Natsume sounds genuinely confused.

"She had blue hair," Ayame explains.

Natsume's legs seem to become tense.


	26. XXVI

"Ibaragi," Natsume mutters under his breath.

"Ibaragi, is it?" Ayame leans forward, clasping her hands in front of her chest. "Is she your girlfriend or something?"

A firm 'no' comes from the child, almost like a growl.

"She does the academy's dirty work, too," he explains.

"So she's not your girlfriend?" Ayame repeats herself, amused. The boy only looks at her (but she's not too sure, since his eyes are behind the mask, after all).

"She's Persona's pet," Natsume says. "She has the Ice Alice."

Ayame processes this, and her mind starts formulating tactics and strategies.

"Your type is obviously not your opposite, then," she mumbles.

"What?" Natsume says in disbelief.

"You know what you do to get your type?" Ayame looks up, observing the dark sky, ignoring Natsume's obvious disinterest. "You stalk her."

"_What?_" Natsume hisses.

"You heard me!" She looks at him this time. "You stalk her, and she's bound to like you eventually."

"Are you sure that's worked for you?"

"Yes! Gin-san likes me more and more each day, and we've already done this and that-"

"Don't want to know," the boy mumbles.

"You know what else you do?" Ayame pauses for effect. "You steal her panties."


	27. XXVII

Natsume loses his balance and falls backwards, and the child quickly scuttles away.

"You're _sick_," he says.

Ayame snorts. "Every girl loves a daring man!"

"How twisted _are_ you?" Natsume asks in disgust.

Ayame remembers that Black Cat is still in his prepubescent years, a fact she easily forgets because of the child's calm and mature demeanor. He still doesn't know the ways of love and life. She tells him this, and he puts a palm to his (mask's) forehead.

"If that's love and life, I don't want to know." He looks up at her. "Are you done asking?"

"Yes. Well, I-" She's cut off by an explosion on the wall inches beside her.

"That's private property," a voice says in monotone through a megaphone, and when Ayame turns around, she sees Gin-san's sadistic Shinsengumi friend. "Well, if it isn't Danna's stalker," the officer says.

Ayame senses Natsume come up behind her, and the sadist smirks.

"Shall I tell Danna that you're cheating on him with a kid?"

"No!" Ayame yells. She feels heat forming on her cheeks, but she wills it away. "I'm not cheating! I'll leave immediately-" she manages to say before she's blown back by another explosion.


	28. XXVIII

The bazooka shot on the roof ledge causes a rain of debris to fall on her and Black Cat. Ayame feels her glasses slip away from her face. When she reaches up to fix its position, there's intense pain in her arm. Warm liquid starts dripping from her nose.

There's no denying that she absolutely _loves_ the pain.

She tumbles in the air, landing on her butt. Ayame could die in happiness, until the Black Cat kicks her leg. It would've been romantic, had he not been a _child_.

"Get up," the boy says; and she obeys.

When Ayame blinks, the entire world before her melts into blurs of shapes and colors. She doesn't know where the Black Cat is, but she walks up to what looks remotely like him.

"That never-"

"I'm over here," the child says from behind her, and she finally sees him.

"That never-"

"Are you _blind_?" he says from beside her, exasperated. Her glasses are shoved onto her face, and Ayame has never felt so relieved.

She turns to Natsume, saying, "That never happened." The child looks at her for a moment before nodding.

The rest of their lesson is then spent sitting in silence.


	29. XXIX

Thank you for reading! Thanks and good work for making it all the way to the end. :D

* * *

Their next lessons are still held in the abandoned warehouse, because no ninja assassin obeys the measly Shinsengumi. Compared to the previous lessons, these go surprisingly without a hitch.

She teaches Natsume the proper ways to kill, whether to stab or slice, and he quickly picks up the art of throwing knives. The boy has natural agility, and Ayame is proud to say he finally deserves his title of Black Cat.

In their last lesson, Ayame tests the child's skills in another mission to assassinate a Jouishishi. It's a different hideout, and the security is tighter; but they go through it easily. When they reach the target, Natsume opts for the quick kunai throw.

As they exit, they run into the white duck, Elizabeth, and Gin-san's long-haired comrade, the infamous Joui leader, Kotaro Katsura. Natsume swiftly creates a wall of fire between them, and Ayame blows the duck a kiss before escaping.

They reach the warehouse without anyone trailing them, and their journey ends in front of the parked limousine, right where it started.

"You're ready, Black Cat," she says. When the boy nods, Ayame curtsies and flees.

She's sure, however, that they won't be her last words to him.


End file.
